F 594 
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Copy 1 



THE 




VOICE OF WAENI^a: 



ADDRESSED TO 



YOUNG MEN, 



AND DESIGNED TO 



A 

'1 



/ 



Guard those that are out, and to rescue those that are in, 



THE WAY TO EUHST. 



V 



NEW YORK: 
PRIITTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

1867. 




f 



THE 



VOICE OF WAENING: 



ADDRESSED TO 



YOUNG MEN, 



AND DESIGNED TO 



Guard those that are out, and to rescue those that are in, 



THE WAY TO RUIIT. 



C,0 .Jl/iX^^n^ 



c 



NEW YORK: 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

1867. 



r 







Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by ' 

C. T. NORTON, j 

In the Clerk's Omce of the District Court of the United States for the ! 

Northern District of New York. I 



JOHN }. REED, PRINTER AND STttREOTYPER, 

43 Centre Street, N. Y. 



PREFACE. 



I WILL give a history of my tnivels through many of the 
States and Territories in America. M}'- travels across the 
Rocky Mountains twice — My hunting tours amongst buf- 
faloes, and other kinds of wild game — A wounded buffalo 
killing one of my company — A horse-thief mortally wounded 
by the horse he stole from us — My visits with '' Kit Carson,'' 
the far-famed mountaineer and Indian hunter, and many of 
his stories — The killing and scalping of an Indian by one of 
our company — A horrible murder committed in our emigrant 
train — The murderer lynched — Four hundred Sioux Indians 
attacking us — Our victory over the savages — My stay in 
" Salt Lake Citv," amonirst the Mormons — A description of 
Brigham Young's palace ; also the great Mormon temple 
— My stay two hundred miles west of " Salt Lake City," 
among the " Goshoot Indians" — The killing and scalping of 
my comrades — My escape — The cause of my blindness — 
Also the lives of many reckless men. 



VOICE OF WARNING. 



" Blind man I What is the cause of your blindness ?" Hc.v 
often I have been asked this question durinc^ tho last four 
years ! My answer has been " the small pox." This ans'.ver, 
though true, is not the whole truth. The first and chief cause 
was my vicious habits, drinking spirituous liquors, gambling-, 
and using tobacco, which have ruined thousands of otiiers and 
hastened them to early graves. I liavc been ashamed to 
state the whole cause of my present wretched condition. And 
I would still prefer to conceal the fact as far as possible ; but 
after much thought, I have come to the conclusion to publish a 
sketch of my wicked and miserable career, in the liope of saving 
some from a similar fate. Unfit for any of the ordinary em- 
ployments, I have determined to do what I can to carry out 
this purpose, mortifying as it is to my pride. 

In the following pages I give the reader a history of my life 
from the age of sixteen to the age of thirty years, when I be- 
came blind. The most of tliis time I spent in roving, drinking, 
and gambling, which brought me into my present condition. I 
I will also give the history of the lives of many otiiers, my ac- 
quaintances and associates, some of whom spent their last days 
in the State prison and the poor house, some of them are still 
there ; and a few have drawn their last breath under the gal- 
lows. 

Reader I my history will be truthfully given. It has been 
written with my own hand, I having been taught in an Asylum 
for the Blind, to write without sight. Having a poor educa- 
tiou, mostly through my own fault, my writing was, of course, 
imperfect, and has been put into the hands of a friend who has 
copied it and made some corrections. But every statement is 
true. Not a fact has been stated which I do not know from mv 
own personal knowledge and observation and the best informa- 
tion, to be true. 

My father was a farmer, and lived a mile west of the village 



VOICE OF WARNING. 



of Warsaw, Wyoniing county, New York. He liad ei.j^lit cliil- 
di-en, two daughters and six soii.-^, of whom I was the fiftli. 
Desiriiip: to loam the tin smith's trade, witli the consent of my 
father, I C(77nmenced my appreDticeship with Hodge & Morris, 
with whom I was to continue three years, working in the tiu 
shop througli the day, and serving as clerk in the hard-ware 
store in tiie evening. I slept in the stare. 

After I had been in the village about two months, I was in- 
vited by a clerk of a dry goods store to come to the store about 
ten o'clock in the evening, to eat poached eggs, to be cooked in 
a pan made of paper. This was something I had never heard 
of, and I accepted the invitation. I found at the store live 
young men, being myself tiie sixth. ^ The window blinds were 
closed, and the door locked. The sheet of paper was then 
fornifd into the shape of a bake-pan. Melted butter was put 
into it, and tiieu the eg^^, well beaten, were poured in. The 
pun was set on a box stove, and the eggs were well cooked iu 
about two minutes. The counter, which had been used as a 
table, was cleared off, and the dishes washed and returned to 
their places. Then, *' Hurrah, boys, for a game at cards !" I 
declined playing, not knowing one card from another. The 
others insisted on my playing, and offered to teach me. Those 
who sat next to me were very attentive to me ; and all compli- 
mented me for my aptness as a beginner. We plaved until nearly 
twelve o'clock, when, it being Saturday evening, one of the 
boys said we must adjourn, or we should break the Sabbath. I 
had already acquired a strong attachment to card playing. 

Before we left the store, a clerk from another store invited 
us to a similar entertainment at the store of his emplovcr, the 
next Wednesday evening. We met at the appointed time. 
This clerk had procured a pitcher of beer to be added to our 
former bill of fare. I was told that eggs were much better 
when eaten with beer. To me, however, the beer tasted worse 
than any medicine I had ever taken ; and I drank it only be- 
cause the others did. After supper, again the counter was 
cleared and alUhings put in order ; and again the cards were 
introduced. We played an hour or more, and went to our 
respective beds, most of us sleeping in the stores. Tiiis afforded 
us the opportunity to be out as late at night as we chose, with- 
out the knowledge of our employers. We continued congrega- 
ting m the stores every few nights, playing cards, drinking beer, 
wnie, and_ after awhile, whisky, and all other kinds of strrong 
drink. JSext, we got to phiying for pennies, then for five cent 



• VOICE OF WARNINTr. T 

pieces, then for ten cent pieces ; and so on, all of us going on 
fast to ruin, though we were not aware of it. 

I had been with Hodge & Morris eleven montlis, when, hav- 
ing been out late the night before, and being cross and peevish, 
I had some hard words with Morris, and quit working for the 
company, and went home to work on the farm. Having be- 
come attached to the bad boys in the village, time seemed to 
pass very slowly. After working on the farm about three 
months, I got a situation with A. H. Carpenter, and was much 
pleased to get back into the village, as I could again play cards, 
drink liquor, and use tobacco without my parents knowing it. 
Thus I continued for eight montlis to drink and gamble nights, 
till a late hour. I had now got so I would step into the bar 
rooms and saloons at night, when I could do it on the sly. 
I was jiovv taken sick, and went to my father's house, where I 
was cuiilined by severe sickness for six weeks. When I was 
again able to work, Mr. Carpenter had sold out, and I lost my 
situation. Xot knowing of my bad habits, he recommended me 
to Mr. Arthur Burtis, of Churchville, Monroe county, for whom 
I engaged to work one year. I worked three months, when 
my health again failed, and I quit work and returned to War- 
saw. My father had sold his farm and moved into the village. 

After I had regained my health I visited Attica, thirteen 
miles from Warsaw. At Attica I got to playing cards with 
some bad young men. To avoid being seen, we went into an 
orchard in the outskirts of the village. We sat down in the 
shade of a large apple tree and put our money upon a handker- 
chief spread on the ground. W^hile engaged here at gambUng, 
we were discovered by a citizen of the place, though he vras not 
seen by us. Being acquainted with my father's family, he re- 
cognized me, and wrote my father a letter, informing him of the 
company and the act in which he had seen me. Tne next day, 
I returned to Warsaw. I had a brother-in-law living at the 
depot, where I called to see my sister and her family a few min- 
utes before going to my father's. I found my sister crying, and 
asked her the cause. She said I would tind out when I should 
see my father ; and added : " We have all heard of your 
gambling at Attica with bad men. Shame on you — a gambler 

— shame on you, C I" and cried still more bitterly. I was 

so shocked that I could hardly stand. I thought of my poor 
mother and my young sister at home. I knew I should iiiid 
them weeping. 1 knew not what to do. 1 was ashamed to go 
home ; and after sitting a few minutes longer, looking at my 



g VOICE OF WARNING. 

sister, wlio continuecl crying, I went to the ticket-office, and 
waited for the next train of cars going west, and returned to | 
Attica, but with a heavy heart. I drank beer and other liquors ^ 
very freely for several days, to drown my thoughts of home, j 
gambling most of the time, night and day, a practice then quite j 
prevalent in Attica. I was lucky, winning often from expe- j 
rienced gnmblers. 

I had been but a few days at Attica, when T heard of a i 
gambler in San Francisco, called " Stuttering Alio,"' who had j 
won $11,000 in gold, one morning before breakfast. This en- : 
couraged me ; I did not know but I might some day be as sue- ' 
cessfuT as Stuttering Alic. I now commenced traveling. I i 
visiied Buffalo, Rochester, and many other towns in Western 
New York, and was exceedingly lucky, winning at almost every j 
game, but spending my money very freely. I went on in this way ; 
until March, when my luck changed. I lost at nearly every 
game, until one night in the city of Rochester I lost my last dol- ! 
lar. Downhearted, I moved my chair back from the table, and, 
while sitting there, I resolved to go home to my friends and 
uever again drink, gamble, or use tobacco ; for I had become 
a perfect tobacco worm. I told an old, gray-headed gambler, 
sitting in a remote part of the room, what I had determi!ied to 
do. He advised me to do so, for I was still young and did not 
fully know the evil of these bad habits. He was the oldest 
gambler I ever saw. Most gamblers die at a comparatively 
early period of life. The next morning I called on a gambler 
who owed me a few dollars, got the money, and took the cars 
for Warsaw. I begged of my relations to forgive my past con- 
duct, and I promised entirely to forsake my evil habits. I was 
readily forgiven and welcomed home. '. 

During my absence, my father had gone to Michigan, and ! 
bought some landed property near Kalamazoo, which required 
his attention during the summer. I wrote to him, informing him 
of my reformation, and requesting him to get for me a situation i 
at or near that place, where I could fiaish my trade. He got me i 
a situation with Potter & Woodbury, in the city of Kalamazoo, I 
and wrote me, enclosing twenty-five dollars to pay my expenses. I 
Never did a son receive better advice than was given in this ] 
letter. My mother and sister prepared my clothes for my jour- 
ney ; and soon the omnibus stopped at the gate to take me to | 
tlie depot, and the family bade me good bye. Such expressions i 
of warm and tender affection as were uttered by my mother and i 
sister, are seldom witnessed. And oh ! what anxiety did they j 



VOICE OF VrAIlNIN'G. 9 

betray in their parting advice, entreating inc to be steady and 
keep out of bad company ; their tears flowing down their 
cheeks I 

I soon found myself "pleasantly situated with my new em- 
ployers, whom I found to be excellent men. I worked for t'nem 
steadily for nearly three months, when I was invited by some 
gay fellows to evening parties, where the guests were treated 
with wine, and played ucre for amusement. I attended a num- 
ber of parties without either drinking or playing. I was asked 
the reason ; but I durst not tell them it was because I loved 
both too well, and feared a relapse into my former habits, 
which I wished to conceal, especially from the young ladies. 
At length, however, I made up my mind to drink and pla}'' at 
these parties just for company's sake ; but I would never go 
further. Alas for the consequences ! My appetite for stronger 
liquor and my passion for card playing were revived ; and I soon 
found myself as bad as ever. Oh ! tiiat [ had heeded the 
parting advice of my mother and sisters ! But I went on 
gambling nearly every night until twelve or one o'clock, and 
working day-times, thus learning two trades at tiie same time. 
My chief object in learning the tin-smith's trade "was to have 
something to fall back upon in case 1 vVnould find myseit' among 
strangers, broken by gambling. 

I often heard in the gambling rooms of a very rich gambler 
in Marshall, called Lucky Bill, said to be the most skillful 
gambler in the State of Michigan. This encouraged me again. 
I thought it possible for me to become one of these rich 
gamblers. I aimed iiigh. Instead of playing ten cent games, as 
I did at first, I wanted to play "big" games, as I should tlien 
win or lose " piles " of money. Again I was lucky, winning 
almost every time I played. 

I had been at Kalamazoo about nine months, when, one 
evening, on the way to my supper, I stopped at a saloon for a 
drink. The bar-keeper told me there was in town a " traveling 
sport" who v/anted a game. I asked his name ; the bar-keeper 
said it was Shepard. Returning from supper, i called at the 
saloon, and Shepard was there. Afcer an introducion by the 
bar-keeper, we three, with another Kalamazoo genilema.n, went 
to tliC gambling room, and played a game called Bluti, until, on 
counting my money, I found myself the loser by ninety dollars ; 
and I judged the other Kahrmazoo gentleman liad lost at least 
an equal amount. Shepard was the lucky nnui. 1 U'ft the 
room, and, going up the street, met anotiier Kalamazoo 



10 . VOICE OF WARNING. 

gambler, wlio told mc that Lucky Bill was in town, in diso-uise, 
calling himself Shepard. So 1 learned that the " sport " was 
no other than the famed Lucky Bill himself. Finding tliat he 
was known in Kalamazoo, he took tlie train the next morning 
for Marshall. The bar-Reeper and the other man continued 
playing with him until they had lost four hundred dollars. I 
kept at my work, playing nights ; and was generally lucky. 

1 was at Kalamazoo thirteen months, the most of which time 
was spent in vice and dissipation, when sickness again compelled 
me to return to Warsaw, where I was confined during the win- 
ter. Li the spring I went East, and connected myself with E. 
S. Washburn's traveling circus. I was what is bv showmen 
termed a " candy butcher." I had my stand inside the canvas. 
I made considerable raoney selling fruits, candies, and lemonade 
made of tartaric acid and a few old lemon peels. At Columbus, 
Ohio, late in autumn, I sold out, and went to Warsaw to spend 
the winter, intending to travel with the sama circus the next 
summer. lu the spring, as I was about starting, my motlier 
and sisters, having learned my intentions, endeavored to dissuade 
me from my purpose. My mother begged me, with tears, not 
to go, saying that showmen generally were not respected. 
Deeply affected, as I truly was, by her grief, I promised her 
that I would give up my intended business. I determined, 
liowever, to go West, and go so far that my people would not 
know what I was doing. I went to Buffalo, and took passage 
on board a steamboat, the first boat up the lakes that spring. 
Our passage was so obstructed by ice that we were three weeks 
going by way of the lakes to Chicago. I was sorry when we 
landed. I had gambled most of the time, — ihe passengers 
being quite gi-een at card playing. 1 beat them with ease. 

From Chicago I went by railroad to Dubuque, and thence 
by stage to Deliii, Delaware Co., Iowa, wiiere 1 got the name 
of Lucky Joe. I was there two years, working, gambling, and 
dealing in land, and made considerable money. I tiien went to 
Warsaw to visit my relatives, and after a few moutiis 1 returned 
to Ljwa, stopping at Dubuque, where I remaiued three months, 
during which time gambling was my only business. The 
game having become somewhat dull here, I commenced travel- 
ing. 1 went East, West, IS'orth and South, gambling in cities 
•dud towns on the lines of railroads, canals, lakes and rivers. 

Having traveled in the way just mentioned till 1859, three, 
other young men and myself formed a company, and started for 
the newly discovered gold mines at Pike's Peak. ]My partners 



TOICE OF WARNING. , 11 

were not gamblers. We boiio^lit our outfit at Omaha City, 
Nebraska. We started, intending to cross tlie Platte river at 
Shinn's Ferry ; but hearing bad news from Pike's Peak gold 
mines, we changed our minds, kept on the North side of the 
river, and headed our course for Califoruia. We drove along 
behind two large sheep drovers ; and when any of their sheep 
became sick or lame, they would let tliem drop behind, and the 
wolves, which were very numerous on the Plains, would com- 
mence eating the poor animals alive. After witnessing a few 
such cases, we shot all that were thus left behind, to end their 
suffering in the shortest manner. We passed Fort Kearney 
twenty-five miles to Elm Creek. We had seen many Indians 
on our route, but had had no trouble from them except their 
begging. We here saw the first bnffulo we had ever seen wild. 
Tliere were upwards of thirty in a herd nearly two miles off. 
One of our company mounted our saddle horse with his gun, 
gave them a chase and killed one of them, a very large one. 
We smoked about four hundred pounds of the meat, after the 
manner of the Indians, by driving sticks into the ground and 
laying other sticks across the tops of them ; and then laying 
the meat in thin slices on the cross sticks, and keeping a slow 
fire uuder it. 

While we were thu^ curing our meat, an emigrant train came 
along, bound for California. It being Saturday, the emigrants 
camped to lay over on the Sabbath. On Sunday morning we 
clubbed together for a bnffalo chase. Eight of us saddled our 
liorses, expecting some rich sport. In the train was an aged 
Christian lady, who begged of u>? not to liunt on the Saljbath, 
saying if we did we would meet with some accident. We laugh- 
ingly told her she was crazy. Within an hour after we had started, 
we were pursuing a herd of several hundred buffaloes, of wliich 
we killed nine. But our best horse, stepping into a wolf-hole, 
pitched over and broke his neck, and threw his rider twenty 
feet in advance of him. Was this our only misfortune ? No : 
one of our company, William Carr/of Ohio, nineteen 3-ears of 
age, was killed by a wounded buflaio ! He had shot the animal, 
and chased him into a mountain. He got off" his pet horse, 
took out his sheath knife, and cut the buffalo's throat. The 
aniauil sprang upon him, and stam[)ed and hooked him to 
death. When we arrived at t!ie spot both were dead, their 
bodies lying about two rods apart, and the horse standing near 
and looking at his master, who had raised him from a colt. 
Tne reader can judge our feelings on seeing the badly mangled 



12 VOICE OF WARXI.VG. 

body of our yoiino; friend, — for be was a favorite witii us all. 
We lathed the body on his pet horse, who seemed to feel as bad 
as we Sabbath-breakers did, and took it to tlie camp, a distance 
of five miles. It was a mom-nful time with the emigrants. The 
old lady's words had proved true. 'Now we did not think her 
crazy. We buried the remains of poor Billy Carr, put up a pine 
board at the head of his grave, and laid over the next day to 
cure our buffalo meat. 

On the following morning we hitched up our teams and pur- 
sued our jou.rney, all of us Sabbath-bi-eakers feeling very sad 
at the loss of our much loved friend. We traveled on to Fort 
Laramie, four hundred miles from Fort Kearney, killing buffa- 
loes almost every day except Sundays. Not a man of us 
would hunt on the Sabbath. When we arrived at Fort 
Laramie, or on the opposite side of the river from the Fort, 
wc heard the favorable report of Horace Greeley, respecting 
the mines at Pike's Peak, while on his tour to California ; and 
we then turned our course toward these miues. We crossed the 
Platte river v/ith our four tetims. We ferried ourselves across 
in a wagon-box calked witli pieces of old rope. Our stock v/e 
swam across. We went to Pike's Peak, two hundred miles, and 
found that the miners liad deceived Mr. Greeley. But few mines 
would pay for working. We staid here, however, the remainder 
of the summer ; my partners prospecting for gold, and I spend- 
ing my time at the^gambling tables. 

While we were camped at Bolder City, a report came into 
town that the Nuvajoe Indians shot gold bullets ; and miners, 
excited by the news, started for the Navajoe range, distant 
150 miles. Five miners, who started with their saddle mules 
and pack mules but two days in advance of my partners and 
others who were preparing for the trip, having passed over the 
snowy range into the Nav:ijoe country, were met by a large 
party of Indians, and botli tiie meu and the mules were killed, 
and the saddles, it was said, were cut into pieces and strev/ed in 
the trail, as if to deter all white meu from following this trail. 
My partners and their companions followed this trail to the 
place where the men and mules were lying, and turned about 
and came back to Bolder City. 

We remained about the *^mines uutil the last of October, 
when we started for Taos, New Mexico, distant 250 miles. Our 
company consisted of the persons connected with eight wagons. 
Nothing v/orth relating happened until we had crossed the Rat- 
ton mountains, wiihin ei'jiht miles of Fort Garland. We had 



VOICE OF ^7ARXING. 13 

two fine horses wliich we did not use on the wagons, but wliich 
followed them as a dog is Avont to do. Occasionally they would 
stop to graze for a few moments by the road-side. As we were 
wending slowly along through the caiion — broken mountains 
on either side — we looked back, bnt our horses were not iti 
sight. It was soon ascertained that the horses must have had 
riders. We unharnessed our horses and mules, mounted them, 
and followed our stolen horses by their tracks from the road 
toward the mountains. We soon saw one of them running up the 
side of the mountain, with a person on his back. We gave hot 
chase, and the horse threw his rider, who struck his side upon 
a rock, and was so badly injured that he was unable to stand. 
The other thief escaped with tlie stolen horse. We took the 
wounded thief to our wagons, intending to hang him. But a 
doctor who was in our train examined him and found his ribs 
broken. He said it was useless to hang him, as he could live 
but two or three days. We laid him by the side of the road, 
gave him some water and three days' provisions, and passed on 
to Taos. 

I had been at ^Haos but a few davs before I o'ot a situation 
as clerk in an American hotel. Evenings, after I closed the 
hotel, I visited the gambling rooms. Gambling is very prevalent 
here among the Spaniards, Mexicans, and soldiers. And the 
Sabbath is the day for cock-fighting, and all kinds of gaming. 
Some of the evenings which I did not spend lib the gaming table, 
I visited Kit Carson, the far-famed mountaineer and Indian 
hunter, to hear him tell his interesting Indian, bear, and wolf 
stories. One of them was substantially as follows : 

When he was Government guide, piloting the old regular 
soldiers through the mountains in Mexico, above Bent's old fort 
on tlie Arkansas river, one afternoon, tlie soldiers being camped, 
he took his gun and went up along the river to see it he could 
not kill a bear for the ofiicers. He was about eight miles from 
camp, and in the woods about two hundred yards from ihe river, 
when, looking toward the river, he saw a party of Indians, and 
with them a white woman and two girls. Kit went back and 
informed tlie commanding ofncer, who detailed thirty armed 
soldiers to go and rescue the vroman and children Ironi the 
savages. He piloted them to the place where the Indians were, 
but on the opposite side of the river. It being near midnight, 
tlie Indians were all asleep. Mrs. Smith (ibu that was lier 
name), was sitting with her face buried in her hands. One of 
her girls was in a similar position, the other lying ou tJie ground 



14 VOICE OF WARNING. 

asleep, and tlie Imlians sleeping all around tliem. Tine soldiers 
stood awaiting orders from their commander, who stood trem- 
bling and pale, afraid to attack the sleeping Indians and rescue 
their prisoners, though there were no more than thirty of them. 
One of the Indians awoke, and, seeing the soldiers, gate a yell. 
All the Indians sprang upon their feet, took their tomahawks, 
plunged them into the heads of their prisoners, and fled to the 
mountains without the loss or injury of one of their number 1 
The bodies of Mrs. Smith and the girls were taken to the camp 
and buried. Carson said he was scarcely able to keep the pri- 
vates from shooting their cowardly officer. " I know his name, 
and ought to expose it to the public. He is yet alive ; and 
such a man is just brave enough to creep up to a blind man and 
shoot or stab him." 

While I was in Taos, Kit Carson was Indian agent for a 
number of different tribes of Indians that range through New 
Mexico. He at one time went over the mountains to give the 
Navajoe Indians their supplies. These Indians told him about 
the killing of the five Pike's Peak miners, whose murder I 
have mentioned. They said they were brave white men, having 
killed twelve of their Indians, so that they died before they (the 
Indians) killed the miners, and mortally wounded twelve others 
so they died in a few weeks after. 

At another time while I was in Taos, Kit went off amongst 
the Apache Indians, where he found a little American boy 
about nine years old, a prisoner. The boy could speak neither 
English nor Spanish, but he could, in broken English, tell his 
name, and said his father and mother and little sisters had been 
killed by the Indians, and his elder brother had been drowned 
in the river trying to escape, and the Indians got him out of 
the river to take off his scalp. The Indians hold prisoners as 
property, and a prisoner may be bought for a pony worth no 
more than twenty dollars. Kit, when he found this boy, had 
two large American mules worth six hundred dollars ; the one 
a saddle mule, the other a pack mule. He gave one of them 
for the boy, and took the boy behind him on the other, and 
brought him to Taos. Being asked why he did not come to the 
settlement and get a cheap pony to trade for the boy, he an- 
swered that the Indians were a deceitful race, and they might 
have killed the boy, or run him to the mountains where he could 
not be found. Kit took the boy into his family, with his Spanish 
wife and his tv.'o small girls, and sent him to school; Peter 
Joseph, Col. St. Vrain, and other leading men in Taos paying 



voicj: of wakxixg, 15 

his tuition, til! they could liiid out whether he had relatives in 
Texas, where his parents and the oilier children were killed. It 
may be truly said of Kit Carson that he is one of the most noble- 
minded, kind hearted men in the United States. He is now 
about sixty years of age, a colonel of a regiment of mountain- 
eers in New Mexico, and a brave officer. 

I staid in Taos until the next spring, when I took passage in 
Col. St. Vrain's freight train back to tlie States. Few incidents 
worth relating occurred on onr journey. After we had got into 
Kansas, at a creek called one hundred and ten, we met a mule 
freight train bound for Santa Fe. We all camped for dinner, 
and ibr baiting our teams. While here, one of our Mexican 
drivers challenged one of the drivers bound for Santa Fe to a 
game at cards. A dispute arose between them, and our driver 
was stabbed by the other so that he died in two hours. The 
Santa Fe driver fled, and escaped justice. 

At Kansas City, Missouri, I left the train, and again com- 
menced gambling, and continued this vicious practice in Mis- 
souri, Illinois, and other Western States, until the spring of 
1862, when I started for California. I crossed the Missouri 
river the 19th of May, and joined an emigrant train at Omaha 
City, Nebraska. We elected our captain — for all trains ci'oss- 
ing the Plains iiave a captain — and went on our way rejoicing. 
Nothing of interest occurred until we had got within forty miles 
of Furt Kearney. Two of our company one niglit were out 
standing guard over our stock, which consisted of horses, mules, 
and cattle. One of the guard, George Stowell, saw an Indian 
creeping along i)ehind some bushes. The Indian shot an arrow 
at Georu:e, who, in return, iired at the Indian with his a-nn. 
The Indian jumped up, gave three yells, and fell dead. Stowell 
and John Barnelt came into camp and told what had happened. 
Tiie next morning John invited us to go and see him scalp the 
Indian. He said if the Indian had killed him the Indian would 
have taken his scalp ; and for that reason he should take the 
Indian's scalp. We went, taking with us three shovels to dig 
the Indian's grave. George performed the operation quite 
skilfullv, as we all thoui>"lit, thou >'h none of us had ever seen a 
person scalped before. We buried him in true Indian style, 
wra[)piiig him in his blanket, and laying his bow and arrows on 
his body before covering it. The Indians give their dead a bow 
and arrows to shoot game with while crossing the vast desert 
to the Spirit Land, which abounds with all kinds of v/ild game. 
Thev believe that those who are brave go to tiiat land af'.er 



IG VOICE OF WARXIXG, 

deatli ; but those who arc not brave go to the bad country to 
which the white ni;in g-oes. 

Having* b'.iriod the Indian, we proceeded on our journey, lu 
crossing- the Plains this time, I saw but one buffalo. Thousands 
had been killed by Pike's Peak emigrants, and the rest had pro- 
bably been frightened away. 

^Vhen we had passed Fort Kearney, 141 miles we.st\v?„rd, one 
mornins: as we \vere about to start, a horrid murder was com- 
niittcd in our train by one or our number, whose name was 
Frasier. The person killed was our captain, Wm. Foster. 
Some hard words had passed between them concerning their 
teams. When the captain liad turned his back and was walk- 
ing away, Frasier drew out his bowie knife and stabbed him in 
the neck, cutting off a large vein, and causing immediate death. 
Frasier, in his attempt to escape, sprang to my saddle hcrse 
which was tied behind one of the wagons. I sprang and 
grabbed him, and with the assistance of two others, captured 
iiim, took from him his revolver and bowie-knife, and tied 
him hand and foot. A consultation was held, and it was 
decided that he shoukl be taken along to Fort Laramie, and 
delivered to the United States troops. The burial of the captain 
vras a solemn and sorrov.^ful occasion, for be was beloved by all 
the emigrants. While we were burying the captain, we were 
toki bv a man in the train that he was acquainted with Frasier 
in St. Jo, Missouri, and tliat he was a drunken, fighting fellow. 
Fearing that ho might make his escape before we could get him 
to Fort Laramie, a distance of 260 miles, we resolved to dispose 
of him be'bre we proceeded on our journey. A judge was ap- 
pointed to try him, and a jury was formed ; and the man having 
the best knowledge of law of all in the train, was appointed as 
counsel for the prisoner. Myself and seven others v\'ere wit- 
nesses, I having stood witliin ten feet of Frasier wdien he com- 
mitted the murder. The trial lasted two hours, and the jury 
brought him in guiity cf murder in the first degree; and the 
judge sentenced him to be hung betv/een the hours of one and 
three o'clock. Tliere being no timber within many miles, the 
question was how to build a scaffold. Our judge being au old 
Californian, was not long in devising a plan of a gallows. He 
ordered two of the heaviest ox-wagons, having the longest and 
largest poles, to be drawn up facing each other, the poles to be 
hoisted, the ends to be tied together, and the wdieels to be 
blocked. A barrel vras placed directly under the ends of the 
tongues or poles, and the criminal on the barrel with one end 



VOICE OF WARNING. 17 

of a rope around liis neck, and the other tied to the ends of tlie 
poles. The judge then ordered tlie larretts to be taken off the 
horses and mules, and tied togetlier so as to make a rope two 
hundred feet long, the middle of the rope to be put around the 
barrel. Every man, woman and child was ordered to take hold 
of the rope, some strong men to be nearest to the barrel. The 
judge gave the word, and we all pulled suddenly, and drew the 
barrel from under the feet of the culprit. His neck was broken 
by the fall, and when dead the body was taken down and buried 
on the side of the road opposite to the place where the captain 
was buried. We then elected the judge for our captain, and 
pursued our journey. 

Reader 1 what do you suppose was the cause of Frasier's 
committing the deed for which he was executed ? After !ie had 
received his sentence, he prayed and cried })iteously, and said if 
it had not been for liquor he would not have committed the fatal 
crime. He had a barrel, or rather a large keg of liquor in his 
wagon, and had drank freely of it. AVc poured the liquor out 
of the barrel before he was executed. Tiiis was the barrel 
which was used for his scaffold. Young men wlio read these 
pages, let the fate of Frasier admonish you to abstain entirely 
from the use of intoxicating drinks. "Touch not, taste not, 
handle not," is the only safe rule. 

After we had passed Fort Laramie and crossed the Black 
Mountains, or Bhick Hills, and were traveling up along the 
Sweet Water river, one of our men went with his gnu toward 
the brink of the river in quest of game. But instead of finding 
four-legged game, he saw about four hundred red skins, skulked 
behind some willow bushes, apparently intending to attack our 
train. He dodged behind a rock, and crept on his hands and 
knees till he got behind a small mountain, unseen by the Indians, 
and came running up to the train and told us what he had seen. 
Our advance teams were fast descending a very steep mountain, 
about thirty rods from top to base. Tiie road passed tlirough 
a ravine about fifty rods, then up another mountain about thirty 
rods from base to top. We were much alarmed by the news 
brought us by our hunter, and knew not what to do. Four of 
our lead teams were so far down the mountain that we could 
not get them back without going down to the centre of the 
ravine, which extended down to the river where the Indians 
were in ambush ; and we supposed they intended to attack us 
in this ravine. After a few minutes consultation, we concluded 
to go through and gain the top of the mountain on the other side, 
if pos>ible. Women and children were crying, some of them 



18 VOICE OF WARXIXG 

praying to be saved from the bands of the savages. Captain 
Lawrence ordered the teamsters to put whip to their teams. 
When we came to the centre of the ravine the Indians saw us, 
and came running toward us, the air ringing with their savage 
yells. There was a general excitement in our train. The yells 
of the Indians and the screams of our women and children 
frightened the teams, and so increased their speed that we 
reached the top of tlie mountain before the Indians got within 
arrow shot. Reader, you can not imagine how our old sore- 
footed oxen ran. It seemed as if they knew that their own 
safety as well as ours depended upon their reaching the top of 
the mountain. 

Having thus far effected our purpose, we formed a corrdl; 
and the men with their guns formed a line around our wngons 
to protect the women and children. Some men 'were as much 
frightened as the women and children : one of them holding in 
his hands his ox-whip, supposing he had his gun, until told of 
his mistake, while preparing to "take aim." The Indians occa- 
sionally sent a bullet among us, while we were ninety m-en 
strong, all well arm.ed. Eight or ten of our guns would carry 
a bullet nearly half a mile with accuracy. We formed in line 
chiefly to let t!ie Indians see our strength, hoping they would 
go awa,y without fighting. But they did not leave until we had 
lired at them, and probably killed some of them. All the 
damage we received was the loss of a young mule, one of his 
legs having been broken by a rifle ball. The Indians having 
become afraid of us, they retreated to the mountains, and" we 
went on our way rejoieiug at our victory. George Stowell w"as 
eager for some of their scalps, but thought it imprudent to go 
after them. 

Passing through Echo canon toward Salt Lake City, we 
examined some of the rocks used by the Mormons for breast- 
works, and through which they had drilled holes for port-holes. 
I have seen solid piles of rock near this place as large and as 
high as a common dwelling house. These must form breast- 
works capable of resisting the strongest force. The port-holes 
were drilled at the tijne when President Buchanan ordered an 
army of regulars to Salt Lake City. They were met at Green 
River by the Mormons, who, it is said, bought off the Govern- 
ment officers, and our army returned to the States. Many lost 
their lives on the Plains ; some were frozen to death. The 
affair was badly managed by our officers. I would give more 
of the particulars of this expedition did space permit. 

We arrived at Salt Lake City on the 20th of July, The 



VOICE OF WARNING. 19 

train stopped licre three days to recruit their stock a little, and 
proceeded on their way to California. I remained ton days to 
learn soniethins: of the Mormons, of wliom I had read and heard 
so much. I was there on the 24th of July, which is celebrated 
as the anniversary of their first settlement in Salt Lake valley 
in 184t. Everything passed off civilly. I saw but one man 
the worse for liquor. I must say, however, that I had never 
seen so many children in one day as I saw on that day. I went 
to the Temple and examined its walls. They were about four 
feet thick, and vrere then about eight feet high, built of solid 
cut stone, and the temple, it was said, would be when finished 
the largest that has been built since King Solomon's time, and 
was intended to be similar to that built by him. The \vall 
around the temple is ten feet high, and about three feet thick. 

I w^ent to call on Brigham Young, or, as the Mormons call 
him. President Young. But ho was ill, and his physician would 
not let him receive compauy. I, however, examined his palace 
and his garden. The garden is the finest I have ever seen, and 
contains five acres. The wall around his palace is similar to 
that around the Temple, and has two passage-ways through it, 
a small and a large one. Over each of these is a large marble 
stone. On the stone over the small passage-way, is carved a 
lamb in a lying posture ; and on that over the large passage- 
way, a lion in the same posture. These are intended to illus- 
trate the Scripture prediction of the day when " the lion and the 
lamb shall lie down together." 

I saw about the city many women without hair on their 
heads, young women as well as old. I took the liberty of ask- 
ing a rattle-headed young Mormon the cause of sc many wo- 
men losing their hair. I asked if it was not the climate. He 
said it was not ; and gave as an answer, that when a man 
having a number of wives, was away from home, the women 
would get to fighting a little, just for fun, and pull out each 
other's hair. " Rather harsh fun," I said. He said, " Oh I 
they enjoy just as good health without hair as with it, for all I 
can see." The fighting, I thought, was quite probable ; the rest 
of the answer v>'as less so. I thought too, that I should not 
wish a lady friend of mine to marry a Mormon. 

During my stay in the city, I engnged witli J. Gooding, the 
Superintendent of the Overland Mail Stage, to keep a Stage 
Station, called CanonrijStatiou, situated in the centre of one of 
those small deserts, which was about thirty-two miles across. I 
commenced business the 4th of August. It was strange busi- 



20 voicp: 0^ ttarxixg. 

iiess to mc. We liad to luuil all our water twelve miles for 
cooking- and for twelve horses. We were also daily annoyed 
by Mormon Indians begg-ing. They were peaceable uutirthe 
last of December ; they then became hostile. One day when 
the other men had grone after water, two tall Indians came to 
the station, and with raised tomahawks, threatened my life if I 
did not give them some flour. I promised if they would spare 
my life to give each of them a sack of flour. They assented 
took the flour, and went away. I left a few days after (Jan! 
4tli, 1863), for CarsDii City, Nevada, where I arrived the 7th,' 
and thence for Gold Hill. 

I had fully resolved that I would never drink liquor or gam- 
ble again, as it w^as now about nine months since I had done 
either ; and my sole object in keeping an overland station was 
to keep from liquor and from card playing; for the Sta^-e Com- 
pany does not allow liquor to be sold at those stations.° I had 
been too proud-spirited to be considered a gambler or a drunk- 
ard ; but my love of liquor and card playing had overpowered 
my pride. I had been ashamed to look a respectable man iu 
the face. I knew I had done wrong. Many times I have 
cried nearly all night, to think I was such a slave to these 
habits. Having formed them so youn- and practiced them so 
long, they had, as I feared, ruined my mind as well as my 
morals, beyond the hope of recovery. I thought of what I 
might have beeii but for these destructive vices': But I had 
not that decision of mind, nor the power to resist temptation 
that 1 would have had if I had pursued that course of life to 
which my parents had advised me. 

One evening as I was walking up Main street, in the Citv of 
Orold Hill, and was approaching a saloon, I was attracted inside 
by the charming music of a cornet band, designed to call bettin-.- 
men to the gaming tables. There were four tables, all of thein 
surrounded with betters. I stood awhile seeing my old favorite 
game played, Spanish moute, at which I had played so much in 
Mexico, and at which I had won and lost thousands and tens of 
thousands of dollars. In a few minutes came my favorite lay 
out, deuce and king. I bet a twenty dollar gold piece on the 
king, and lost my money. Until then I did not once think of 
the resolution I had formed. Reader, that sweet music is in- 
tended to allure men and boys into places where they are 
ruined. While I was on the Faeilic coast, I knew many men 
torty years old and older, led by such music to commeiicj 
gambling, and soon bring themselves to want and degradation. 



VOICE OF WARNING. 21 

There is, however, one thing iu their favor : they have not so 
many years of unhappy life to live as a boy that commences iu 
his teens. 

1 will now return to the monte table. After I had lost my 
twenty dollar gold piece, tears came into my eyes, not because 
I had lost the uionev, but because I had been such a fool as to 
let gamblers and music cause me to forget my good resolutions. 
While I stood thinking whether 1 should leave the monte table 
without trying to recover my twenty dollars by playing, the 
monte dealer laughed at me, and said I happened to get on the 
wrong card, speaking iu such a manner as to increase my vex- 
ation. I took from my pocket one hundred dollars and com- 
menced playing, and told him I w^ould break his monte bank 
if I could get one of my old streaks of luck. I bet ten or twelve 
times, and won nearly every time ; and he closed his bank foi 
the night. This is the way the gambling bankers do. If one 
of their betters is in good luck, they close their game. If he 
had allowed me to gain a few more bets, I would have had him 
in my pocket, as the gambler's phrase is whei^ he wins from 
another all his money. But was the money I won a benefit to 
me ? It was rather a curse. Had I left the gaming saloon 
inmiediately after losing my twenty dollar piece, and thinking 
of my resolutions never to drink or gamble again ; but to keep 
out of the company of drunkards and gamblers, how mucli 
better it would have been for me ! I believe I should this day 
have my eye-sight. But 1 did wrong; and now 1 am suffering 
the sad consequences of my error. 

The next night I went to the same gambling house and 
stepped up to the same monte-dealer's table to commence bet- 
ting ; buL he politely requested me not to bet at his bank, and 
said i bet too freely and was too lucky. I said that was why 
they called me Lucky Jo. 1 then turned to a faro-bank, and 
commenced betting against it. My luck changed ; I lost nearly 
every bet 1 made. I played until the bank closed, and went to 
my boarding-house at a late hour, and retired. 1 kept on playing 
every night until the 21st, when my eyes became weak and sore 
from being up nights, drinking, gambling, and using so much 
tobacco. On the 23d 1 was taken sick, and called a physician. 
He gave me medicine. The next day he called twice. The 
next morning he called again, and pronounced my disease the 
small-pox, and said I had it very bad. He gave me medicine, 
and left the room. About two hours after, who should enter 
mv room but " Pest-house Brown I" a man appointed by the 



22 VOICE OF WARNING. 

city anthorities to look after cases of small-pox, wliich was then 
raging bad!}'. Brown said to me, " Young man, I am after 
you ; got up and put on your clothes, for you must go to the 
pest-house." 1 knew there was no use to refuse, for if I did, 
the city ofiQcers would take me there. When T had dressed 
myself, Mrs. Lee, who was very kind to me, wrapped around 
me four large blankets. I got into tlie wagon, and laid down 
in the bottom by the side of Milton Overman, son of George 
Overman, who ow^ned a large interest in a rich silver mine, and 
after whom the claim is named ; and we were carted off to the 
pest-house. On awaking the next morning, I saw a man next 
to me, sitting up in his bed, dead. The nurses had fallen 
asleep in the night, and the poor sufferer liad scratched his face 
and head so that the blood had run all over him. He was a 
frightful looking object ; in about tv.'o hours he was buried. 
The first and orily qnarrellirig over a dead man's boots I ever 
heard was here. There were not less than four nurses, each of 
whom claimed the boots for some service rendered the man. 
One for giviug him a glass of watei', another for giving him a 
cup of tea, and so on ; and after a violent scramble, the strong- 
est man got them. 

The fright at seeing the dead man, aud the scene just des- 
cribed, made me neivous, and 1 became delirious, iu which state 
1 remained ten days. When I had recovered my senses, I found 
that 1 vras blind 1 My left eye had run out of my head,, aud my 
right was covered with a film. Eeader, youcan form some idea 
of my feelings. I knew my bad habits wx-re the cause of my mis- 
fortune. Tliev affected mv eves : aiul vou know tliat when a 
person is taken with a contagious disease, it is likely to settle 
in the weakest part of the system. 

On the day 1 was taken with the small-pox, the keepers of 
Canon Station Vv'ere attacked by sixty Indians, and killed and 
scalped. One, the mtrn tliat filled my place, wus burnt. Also 
four soldiers who ran tiieir hoises from Deep Creek station to 
assist their fellow wdiite men, were killed. The Indians took 
the stage horses and the soidieis' horses, and the scalps and 
clothes from those they had massacred, and, having set on fire 
the hay-stack and stables, fled to tlie mountains. Had I re- 
mained there a few days longer, 1 should probably have been 
one of the killed. There is Utile difference, however, between 
death and affliction like mine, brought upon one's self by habits 
of vice and dissipation. I am not the only one who has thus 
destroyed himself. There are thousands, and hundreds of thou- 



VOICE OF WARXIXG. 23 

sands who have ruined themselves, body and mind, bv drinkinfr, 
gambling, and tobacco-poison. 

I v/as in the post-honsc three months, and then T was liiim- 
bugged by a doctor who told me ho conld cnre mj eyes. I 
went to his eye-infirmary, wlicre I was under his treatment three 
months ; for medical treatn.ient and my board, lie cliarged me 
$100 a month ; and instead of benefiting, he iiijureu my eye. 
I went from tjie infirmary to a [n-ivate boardiiig-house, and 
while there, a robber one night entered my room, and took my 
pantaloons, with $375, from under my head, and escaped. The 
next morning T had the robbery advertised, and the next morn- 
ing after, th.e pantaloons were found on tiie fence near my 
boarding-honse with $374, the robber having taken bnt one 
dollar for his trouble in returning them. Some thought the 
robber's conscience smote him on finding that lie had robbed a 
blind man, and secretly put tlie pantaloons where they were 
likely to be found. I was at this boarding-house three months. 
I then went to San Fj'nncisco, v^'here I was under treatment in 
the eye infirmary until the 23d of December, paying $2 50 a 
day without benefit. On the 23d I took passage on board a 
steamer for Panama ; took the railroad for Aspinwall ; there 
took a steamer for New York ; and from there came bv rail- 
road to Warsaw, where I write this narrative of my unfortunate 
and miserable career. Reader, judge of tlie feelings of myself 
and my relatives on my return after so loiig an absence, a })Oor, 
ruined, wretched man, made so by my wanton, cruel disregard 
of the advice of those kind friends upon whose ciiarlty I was 
compelled to throw myself. You may see in my case the effects 
of a roving, dissipated life. If you are yet correct in your 
habits, and respectal)le, yield not to the temptations by which 
you may^ be assailed. Shun the company of the vicious and de- 
praved. Ill this course alone there is safety. And if you are 
alreadv in the wav to ruin, stop at once ; break off from vour 
evil habits, and you may yet be respected and happy. 

Having finished the proposed sketch of my own life, 1 will 
now go back to Warsaw village, and trace the course of some 
of those boys who started with me in their vicious career. With 
me they first played cards "just for amusement." Next they 
took a little i)eer and wine ; and soon, "just a few drops" of 
whisky and brandy. There was no harm, they said, in having 
a little enjoyment in this way. But will boys stop before tiiey 
gel too far ? No ; nine out of ten who commence bad habits 
go on to ruin. Wliere are my young comrades, who, with me, 



24 VOICE OF WARNING. 

began to play merely for araiiseraent, and to drink a little ? 
They, like me, proceeded to play for pennies, then for dimes, 
dollars, tens and hundreds, and to increase their drinking in 
about the same proportion. I repeat the question, " Where nre 
they ?" Four of them filled drunkards' graves before they had 
seen thirty-two summers. The fifth, a bloat and half an idiot, 
supported by wealthy parents, will, to all human appearance, 
reach a similar destination. I have been told that it is the opinion 
of physicians that the affection of his mind is, in whole or in part, 
caused by the excessive use of liquor and tobacco. His condition 
is worse even than mine. The sixth is now in solitarv confine- 
ment in Michigan State Penitentiary, sentenced for life, for kill- 
ing a man in the city of Marshall. He was intoxicated when 
he committed the murder. Out of thirteen of us who were ac- 
customed to meet at the stores to play cards and drink for 
pastime or amusement, as we then considered it, there are but 
two v»ho reformed when young, and are now respectable men. 
Think of it, young reader : eleven out of thirteen dead or 
ruined ! Think of it well before you take the first glass or play 
the first game, even for amusement only. 

A family, consisting of the parents, four daughters and seven 
sons, removed some years since from Batavia, Genesee county, 
New York, to Buffalo. Some of tliem still reside in that city. 
The father was a house-builder. George, his eldest son, was 
twenty years of age. After a few mouths he became unsteady. 
He was often out niglits until a late hour, drinking and gambling. 
His parents, having learned the fact, entreated him to stop ; but 
George continued his course. One morning, at the break- 
fast-table, he told his father he should work no longer with 
him ; for he could make more at gambling than all of them 
could make at their trade. His parents, weeping, told him 
the day would come when he would be sorr}' that he had ever 
seen a pack of cards. George did not think so ; he could 
get all the money he wanted by playing cards. He left 
home, and made gambling a steadv business in the citv. For 
a time he was fortunate — bought fine clothes, gold watches 
and jewelry, and would go home and show his money and 
jewelry to liis younger brothers, thus making them discon- 
tented and tempting them to a similar course, when tlnjy 
should be of sufficient age. Such was the effect. As they 
grew up, and got from under their parents' control, they, 
like George, took to gambling as a business, having, prac- 
ticed not a little under his instruction. Where arc now 



VOICE OF WARNING. 25 

these seven brothers ? Three of them died from drunkenness. 
The fourth killed himself by cutting his throat in the city of 
New Orleans, one night, after losing all his money at 
gambling. The other three are in the State prison. How sad 
to see boys forming habits which will sooner or later bring 
them to such a miserable end ! Had George pursued the 
right course, his brothers would probably have done the 
same, and all have become respectable and useful men. 
That they were skillful gamblers I know, having played with 
them manj' a game. 

In the village of Wyoming, six miles north of "Warsaw, 
was a young man whose name was Edward Rowe. "Wlien 
about eighteen or nineteen years of age, he was sent by his 
employer, Mr. Daniel Keith, to a town south of Warsaw, 
after a load of lumber. On his return through Warsaw, his 
wagon broke down, Edward took the horses from the 
wagon, and put them into the hotel stable, and sent word to 
Mr. Keith to come after them, as he (Rowe), should never 
work another day for him or any other man. Rowe had 
already become an expert country gambler. He went to 
Buffalo and made gambling a business. He was fortunate. 
He went to the Southern States, and won piles of money. 
He went to Chicago, and bought a large quantity of real 
estate, fine horses and carriages, and other things of the most 
costly kind. He roomed in the third story of a brick block on 
Lake street. Called on in his room one day by an acquaint- 
ance from W^'oming, he told his friend how successful he .had 
been, and said if he saw a hundred dollars lying on the pave- 
ment, and could have it by going down after it, he would 
not go : for he had no use for more ; or if he had, he could 
turn around to his gaming table, and win it more easily than 
he could go down into the street. Eight years passed away, 
when, on a Sabbath evening, who should make his appear- 
ance in Warsaw but Ed. Rowe. He was poorly clad, and 
his face would have made a good sign for a wholesale liquor 
house. .He had a cousin in Warsaw, whom he had come to 
get to go with him to Buffalo, and join him in renting the 
Lovejoy Hotel. He said the owner required a quarter's rent 
in advance; and as he (Edward), had been in hard luck for 
a few years past, and lost all his property, he wished his 
cousin to pay the quarter's rent ; and then told him what 
piles of money they could make from a gambling room, from 
boarders, and from travelers, etc. But Cousin Roderic told 



26 VOICE OF WARNING. 

him he would not go into such business, and Edward, dis- 
pleased, returned to Buffalo. Three years passed away ; and, 
reader, where do you think Edward Rowe was ? He was 
in the Lunatic Asylum, atUtica, a State pauper, where he is 
at the present time. There is that former rich gambler, who 
once would not have gone down two flights of stairs for a 
hundred dollars, a victim to his vicious habits ! - Reader, I 
say again, take warning ; these are facts. 

I have already introduced the reader to Lucky Bill, who won 
ninety dollars from me at Kalamazoo. He went the next spring 
across the plains to California, taking with him his son, about 
seventeen years of age, and several race horses. He had been 
in California but four months wiien his luck suddenly changed. 
He lost on nearly every game of cards he played, and got beat 
on nearly every horse race. In about one year Lucky Bill was 
"played out ;" his large fortune was scattered to the winds. 
He and his son were turned out of one boarduis; house after 
another, for not being able to pay then* board bills. In their 
extremity, not knowing what else to do, they joined that great 
gang of robbers whicli was broken up by the famous Yigilance 
Committee. He went into tiie mountains, waylaying and rob- 
t>iug the hard-working miners and peaceable travelers, and soon 
became one of the most desperate highwaymen in California. 
At one time, as two men were passing along, well armed. Lucky 
Bill, with two revolvers ready cocked, one in each hand, sprang 
from behind some bushes by the road-side, presented the revol- 
vers at the heads of the travelers, and compelled them to lay 
down their weapons, money and watches at his feet. He picked 
up his plunder, momited his liorse, and rode off into the moun- 
tains. He wils feared by all travelers. 

At another time a drover and butcher named Bush, was tra- 
veling over the mountains back of Marysvilie. Lucky Bill 
sprang from his hiding place, {)resented liis revolver, and de- 
manded Bush's monev. Bush bein^r a strong and brave man, 
ventured a battle with Bill, and in the scuffle knocked him down 
and jumped upon him. Bill, however, succeeded in shooting 
Bush through the head, took from his pocket seventeen hundred 
dollars, and a gold watch and chain. Bill having been seen by 
a hunter near the place where the murder was committed, there 
was no doubt who the murderer was. The news spread 
rapidly. Bush being well known by the miners, whom he had 
supplied with meat, (some of whom were members of the 
Vigilance Committee), the miners and mechanics threw down 



VOICE OF WARNING. 2t 

their tools, determined to capture Lucky Bill, who had hitherto 
baffled all attempts by the officer of many towns to arrest him. 
They started in squads of ten, twelve, and fifteen men ; and on 
the second day one of the squads found him asleep in a thicket 
of bushes, and captured the desperado. Having with them a 
rope, they took him to a tree, intending to hang him at once. He 
begged of them to spare his life until he could see his son, and 
give him some good advice. Thinking this might benefit his son, 
they consented to spare him a few hours, and took him down 
to the foot of the mountain near Marysville, where his son was. 
He spoke to his son in substance as follows : " My son, you 
know I am to be hung for my shocking crimes. The cause of 
my being a robber and murderer was my bad habits. I com- 
menced putting the wine-cup to my lips when I v/as about your 
age. I have since been going on, step by step, until I have 
come to this horrible end, which so many gamblers and drunk- 
ards have found. Now, son, I advise you to expose the bad 
gang we joined, and if you are released, go back to your mother 
at Marshall, in Michigan, and be a steady young man, instead 
of being such an unhappy man through life as I have been." 
The Vigilance Committee let him talk to his son for two hours, 
when they told him his time had come. Two of the committee 
took away the son and guarded him, while the others hung 
Lucky Bill to a tree till he was dead. They buried him, and 
took the son down to Marysville, where he exposed thirteen of 
the gang, one of whom was Yankee Sullivan, the great prize- 
fighter, who fought with Tom Hyer on Morris Island, many 
years ago, and who, like others of that class, was a drinking 
gambler. The news was sent to the Vigilance Committee at 
San Francisco, who took Clark and Cooper, and several others, 
and hung them, and lodged Sullivan in jail ; and gave many 
other ruffians notice to leave the city within three days, or share 
the same fate. While the committee were preparing the scaf- 
fold for Sullivan, he hung himself in his cell with his suspenders. 
Lucky Bill's son returned to Marshall, where, it is said, he now 
resides a respectable citizen. 

I will here say a word in my own behalf. I never belonged 
to any organized gang, though I have often been invited to 
join gangs, particularly those for passing counterfeit money. I 
have never knowingly passed a dollar of bad money. On the 
contrary, I once exposed a gang of counterfeiters by means of 
a drunken agent of theirs wlio came to me because I was a 
gambler, and tried to get me to take some of their counterll-it 



28 VOICE or WARNING. 

money to gamble with. He was somewhat intoxicated, and 
after I had got him to talvc a few drinks with me, and gained 
his confidence, he was in a condition to tell me all that was 
necessary for the detection of the connterfeiters. The next 
morning I wrote to a friend of mine living in the city in which 
the bad money was made, giving him the name of the street 
and the number of the building- where the money was made. 
My friend showed the letter to the sheriff. At night the house 
was watched, and a number of men were seen to enter and not 
return. Not long after they had gone in, no light was seen 
from the outside. The ofi&cers then burst open the door, passed 
through a dark room, and caught the counterfeiters at their 
work. They were tried, convicted, and sent to the State 
prison. 

I will now give you the rest of my history of Stuttering Alic, 
the gambler, who won eleven thousand dollars in the Eldorado 
saloon in San Francisco, one morning before breakfast. I had 
heard of this rich gambler from returned Californiaus, and Had 
been encouraged by his success, for I aimed to be such a gam- 
bler myself. Little did I ever think the great Alic and myself 
would ever be in the pest-house together. He arrived at San 
Francisco in 1850. From that time to 1857, he owned the 
finest horses, carriage and harness in the city. He wore a dia- 
mond shirt-pin said to be worth $2,000, and diamond rings and 
sleeve-buttons, and was one of the gayest of the gay. He also 
owned a lai'ge amount of real estate. But in 1857, judgment 
came. He was taken sick with the inflammatory rheumatism, 
which was so severe as to draw his hands and his feet out of 
shape, so that he could not deal cards without difficulty, nor 
walk without two canes. His luck changed, and in two years 
his property was all gone ! In 1860, two years after, the 
Comstock silver ledge was discovered at Virginia City, Nevada. 
Some of his gambhng friends helped him to that place, where 
the once rich Stuttering Alic lived by contributions from the 
gamblers, and the Httle money the old wretch received for teach- 
ing young men to gamble. He was the cause of many becoming 
gamblers. In 1863, while the small-pox was raging in Virginia 
City, Alic took the disease. The pest-house man heard of it, 
and went to take him to the pest-house, Alic drew his revolver, 
and threatened to shoot him if he attempted to take him. Just 
then three other gamblers entered the room, and told the pest- 
house man to leave, or they would shoot him. The man went 
to the board of aldermen, and inquired what he should do ; Nyo, 



VOICE OF WARNING. 29 

now a senator in Congress from that State, being one of the 
board. The police posse was ordered to go and take Alio, dead 
or alive. The policemen went to his room and found his door 
locked. The captain of the police ordered the gamblers inside 
to unlock the door, or he would shoot every one of them ; and 
the door was unlocked. The pest-house man and James Mack, 
our pest-house cook, took from Alic his weapons, carted him to 
the pest-house, and laid him on an old filthy bed in the kitchen, 
where he lived four days. With his hands raised, he exclaimed, 
" Lord !" His hands dropped, and he was dead. His body 
was put into a rough box, his old blankets thrown over the 
body, and he was buried without ceremony — a pauper : the 
expenses of his sickness and burial being paid by the city. This 
was the end of another rich gambler. 

Reader," I have now given you a sketch of the lives of the 
three ri^chest gamblers I ever knew — Edward Rowe, Lucky 
Bill, and Stuttering Alic. Rowe is still a pauper on the State 
of New York, in the lunatic asylum. He was at one time pro- 
bably richer than any gambler now living. Four-fifths of the 
inmates of the poor-houses and prisons in our country have 
been brought there by bad habits. Of the large number of 
children in the poor-houses, most of them will have to suffer 
through life in consequence of the vices of their parents, who 
were either drunkards, gamblers, or tobacco worms. Why do 
not the old paupers tell to all those they see the true cause of 
their being such ? They are, like myself, ashamed of their past 
life, and fear, perhaps, that if the cause were known, persons 
would have less sympathy for them in their distress. Go into 
the Blind Asylum, in the city of New York, where I have been 
during one term, and where are nearly two hundred pupils, 
many of whom have, like myself, become blind from bad habits. 
When asked by visitors the cause of their blindness, they will 
falsely ascribe it to this, or that, or some other accident. But 
evenings, when in our rooms by ourselves, the real cause would 
be talked of, and some of them would cry and sob to think they 
liad brought themselves into their present condition by their 
vicious course of life, to continue in this condition the remainder 
of their days. I believe it to be the duty of those who have 
been the guilty authors of their own misfortunes, to tell the 
whole truth, and give warning to others. 

When I was twenty-two years of age, and stopping for a 
time at the Astor House in New York, my business in the city 
being gaml)ling, a party of us young men went to that noted 



80 VOICE OF WARNING. 

part of the city, called " Five Points," to *' see the ffishions ;" 
in sober language, to see the wretchedness of the people living 
there. We got to the police station, in Baxter street, about 
ten o'clock : the right time to see the police officers briug in the 
poor drunken wretches, and lodge them in the calaboose. We 
examined the cupboard kept for storing the weapons, skeleton 
keys, etc., taken from murderers, robbers, and burglars, and 
Avith which this cupboard, four feet wide, two feet deep, and 
twelve feet high, w^as nearly filled. Among the deadly weapons 
were revolvers, bowie-knives, pieces of swords and scythes, with 
handles, sword canes, gun canes, air guns, air revolvers, and all 
other kinds imaginable. Scarcely a door-lock is manufactured 
in the United States which may not be opened with some key 
taken from these burglars. This cupboard, we are told, is 
cleared out once in three months, being filled four times a year. 
We next bargained with a man, formerly a policeman, and 
familiar with every street and alley in the Five Points' district, 
for three dollars, to conduct ns as a pilot and guard, until one 
o'clock, telling him we wished to see the worst places. We 
went from Baxter street into an alley, each having a cigar in 
his mouth, and having taken several drinks of liquor, little think- 
ing, being young and healthy, that we were indulging in the very 
habits which had brought these people to want and misery. 
Our pilot led us down a broken pair of stairs into Whisky Jack's 
lodging house, a room cold and damp, twenty feet long and 
twelve feet wide, in which were no less than sixteen lodgers, 
some of them asleep, some too drunk to sleep, others cursing 
us, and others asking us to sleep with them, and carry with us 
a few lice and bed-bugs in the morning ; and still others asking 
for a few pennies to buy something to eat. Their berths were 
three high, and built after the manner of steamboat berths. 
On one of the lowest berths was a gray-headed old man, who 
appeared to be sober. 1 asked him the cause of his being in 
that suffering condition. Weeping, he said, after a moment's 
hesitation, the first cause was liquor. I asked him if he had a 
family. " Young man," said ho, " do not speak to me of family ;" 
and increased his weeping. He said he had a family in some 
part of the world. Each of us gave him and several others 
some pennies, and left. 

We went a few doors, and turned down into nnother room, 
similar in condition and size to the former, with eighteen lod- 
gers. Beds also were similar ; ticks filled with straw or hay ; 
and for covering, they had, instead of blankets, pieces of old 



VOICE OF WARNING. 31 

coffee sacks, and old rags of all kinds, such as they had picked 
np in the streets. And for such beds lodgers paid ten cents a 
night. Most of them were drunk, some swearing at us for 
coming into their room, others begging for money to buy food. 
I asked a large, strong, middle-aged man how he came to be 
here. Rum, he said, was the cause. We gave some of them 
pennies, and passed out. We visited another lodging house, 
which was a little better, the lodgers having blankets to cover 
them ; but were charged twenty cents a night, being a some- 
what higher grade of people, yet most of them intoxicated. 
We continued our travels about the Five Points until one 
o'clock, visiting lodging-houses, and receiving from the lodgers 
in most cases the same answers as to the cause of their miser- 
able condition. I shall never forget the answer of one of these 
men to my question. — " Gambling, rum, and tobacco," he said, 
" the same that is taking you, young chaps, amongst bed-bugs. 
lice, and other kinds of man-eaters. And you, boys, look out 
for I think from the looks of your faces, you all drink. Look 
out, or old Mr. Whisky will get you after a while." But we 
did not regard what he said, thinking there was no danger. 
And now I cannot help thinking of us five boys, and the scenes 
we witnessed that night. Two of our number have served a 
term in the State prison, and myself am blind. Where the 
other two are, I do not know. Oh ! why did we not heed the 
warning from the man who told us to look out for Mr. Whisky ? 
The truth is, mankind can readily see the faults and the dangers 
of others, while they are blind to their own. I believe that 
tobacco alone is the chief or first cause of sending many to the 
poor-house. It often unfits men for work or business, and some- 
times causes serious sickness. I have used tobacco sixteen years, 
and can say much from experience. Dr. Mott, of New York, 
who was probably the most learned practical physician in the 
United States, said, in lecturing to his medical students, that if 
they had a patient who used tobacco, to forbid the use of it ; 
for it destroyed the effect of medicine. He said it ought to be 
called the weed of lingering disease, and hundreds of thousands 
were, by the use of it, hurrying themselves to early graves. 
He said farther, that many complain of pains in the back, sides, 
chest, and other parts of t!ie system, and took medicines from 
their family physicians, and all kinds of patent medicines, with- 
out relief, when all that was necessary was to stop using tobacco. 
Others of the most eminent physicians concur in this opinion of 
Dr. Mott. And I can, from my own experience, declare that 
what they say I sincerely believe to be true. 



32 VOICE OF WARNING. 

A word here to those who have a roving- disposition. A 
rover's life is a hard and a bad one. I have been in thirty dif- 
ferent States, and four Territories. And I have met men who 
had been in every State in the Union, and in every Territory, 
and in many foreign countries. Yet I liavc never found one 
such roving man who was not an unhappy man ; but w^hen over- 
taken by sickness or old age, such men, having spent their earn- 
ings in traveling, are supported at the poor-house, or by their 
friends, during the remainder of their lives, and are buried in 
pauper graves. Far batter it would have been for many of 
these had they married at a proper age, and settled down in 
life at some honest trade. To this I would advise young men. 
Had I done so, I would not now be a poor blind man. 

I conclude with an exhortation to young men and boys 
generally. My young friends, think of the pain you cause 
your parents by a vicious course of life. Such a life is littlo 
else than the infliction of a slow murder. It puts an end to 
their earthly happiness. Young man, your kind, affectionate 
mother has watched over and cared for you for days and 
months and years during the helpless period of your life, in 
health and in sickness, and has lavished upon you the expres- 
sions of her love and aft'ection. And she indulges the fond 
hope that you will in return be to her a stay and support iv 
her old age, should she be spared so long. But think of her 
feelings when told that her dear son has been several times 
seen with his young associates in the saloons or bar-rooms 
taking a glass of some intoxicating liquor. She begs of you 
with tears, to stop, knowing better than yourself your dan- 
ger. Perhaps you tell her not to be alarmed, you can take 
care of yourself ; or, you only take a drink occasionally with 
your friends ; or you promise to do so no more, but forget, 
or utterly disregard your promise ; or you turn a deaf ear to 
her kind words and earnest entreaties, all intended for your 
good. She hears again of your continued visits to these 
places of drinking and debauchery, and of your having been 
seen in the billiard room, and at the gaming table. And 
again, in the depth of her grief, weeping most bitterly, she 
beseeches you to go no further in your dangerous way. Per- 
haps you again promise amendment ; but you do not keep 
yourself out of the way of temptation, and you are persua- 
ded by your associates to repeat your nightly visits to your 
wonted places of resort. Your father talks to you with no 
better success. Y^our parents hoih feel that you are ruined — 
lost. By all your acquaintances who have watched your 



VOICE OF WARNING. 33 

progress, you are counted among the lost. Yet you may 
possibl}^ iu your blindness, think yourself in not a very bad 
way, or you may again resolve to reform, but with no better 
success than before. Imagine now the feelings of that ten- 
der mother as she goes at night, with an aching heart, to 
lay her aching head upon her pillow. She knows that her 
son is iu the haunts of the vicious, and is constantly becom- 
ing more and more confirmed in habits of vice and dissipation. 
She cries and sobs herself to sleep. In the morning she goes 
about her daily work with a mournful countenance. Sorrow 
is marked upon her face no less distinctly than if she were 
mourning for his death, and brijigs her perhaps to an early 
grave : for it is well known that the mind affects the body, 
and often either prodnces disease, and neutralizes the power 
of medicine. She lingers along for a few months, and dies 
a victim to the mental and bodily anguish caused b}'' a cruel 
— may I not say a murderous son I 

A word also to drinking and gaming fathers. The well- 
prepared supper despatched, the father hastens to the grog 
shop. His faithful wife, at an early hour, undresses her four 
or five little children, and puts them into their clean though 
poor beds — poor, because their negligent father spends for 
drink what should be expended for the support and comfort 
of his famil}'. She sits up, diligent at her work, and waiting 
for him until eleven or twelve o'clock ; but he does not come. 
She thinks of her misfortune in being the wife of a drunk- 
ard. She sees her women neighbors with smiling faces ; 
their daily wants supplied by attentive and kind husbands, 
who spend their evenings at home, and all, parents and chil- 
dren, contented and happy. These thoughts fill her eyes 
with tears, so that she can no longer see to ply her busy 
needle. She lays her weary body down to rest during the 
few remaining hours of the night ; but her sleep, even during 
this brief period, is interrupted by her bitter reflections, 
crying ; and the return of her husband — fretful, ill natured, 
quarrelsome — drunk. Her children and herself being depend- 
ent upon her labor, she rises at an early hour, and again 
goes through the daily tedious round of toils and trials. 
Thus she drags out a miserable life, and, if sustained by a 
vigorous constitution, protracted, perhaps, through many 
long and weary years of mental agony, keen as the pangs of 
death itself. Tlius we see the once kind and affectionate 
husband become the guilty destroyer of the happiness of one 



34 VOICE OF WARNING. 

whom he had solemnly promised to cherish and support. 
Surely there are murderers of wives, as well as murderers of 
fathers and mothers. 

Nor are these the only destroyers of human happiness and 
humau life. Humiliating and painful as is the fact, there 
are daughters who are, in the same sense of the word, mur- 
derers of parents, and sisters, and brothers. O girls ! could 
I tell you how degraded were some of your own sex whom I 
have seen in my travels, I think the tears would stream 
down your cheeks. I have seen them hold out their hands 
crying for bread. And what was the cause of their suffering? 
It began in disobedience to their parents, and in not heeding 
their advice. They went on, step by step, from bad to worse 
in their vicious course, until they reached the lowest depth 
of misery and degradation. Girls, your safety lies in a good 
education. Go to school, and improve diligently the time 
and opportunity afforded you in useful study. Go to religious 
meetings and Sabbath schools, and use all other means for 
improving your minds and your hearts, and thus lay a sure 
foundation ibr your own happiness, and the happiness of 
your friends. 

In one thing I have been somewhat singular. I had always 
an anxiety to hear the history of bad men, and to hear it 
from their own lips. I have often treated them with liquor 
till they were pretty well stimulated, and then drawn from 
them a history of their lives from their childhood ; and I 
have found most of them to be persons who had little or no 
education, and who had never regularly attended public wor- 
ship on the Sabbath, or Sabbath schools, or other places of 
religious instruction. 

My young friends, I feel a deep interest in your welfare ; 
and for your especial benefit these pages have been written. 
And now permit me, in conclusion, to repeat my advice : — 
Never drink the first dram; never defile your mouths with 
the first quid or cigar ; never play the first game of cards. 
Do not profane the name of your Maker, nor his holy Sab- 
bath, nor associate with those who do these things ; or, if 
you have already done either, I entreat you never to do it 
again. Pursue some honorable calling. Be honest, indus- 
trious, and frugal ; and devote your leisure hours to the im- 
provement of your mind by useful reading and study, and 
you will be prosperous and happy, a blessing to your family, 
to the community, to your race ; and you will leave to your 



VOICE OF WARNING. 35 

children a legacy more valuable than all the money that 
gamesters ever won — the legacy of a Good Name I 

Reader, if you should chance to visit those cities and vil- 
lages I have mentioned, inquire of the old settlers the his- 
tory of the lives of different ones I have called your attention 
to, and you will find their lives much worse than I have; 
related. There is not a writer in the world that can give 
the life of a gambler or a drunkard as bad as it really is. 
Look at the drunkards that come under your observation ; 
they are unhappy persons. I know they are. A person 
that drinks liquor is unhappy, compared with one who does 
not drink liquor. And now, my reader, take me for an ex- 
ample. I am one out of a countless number who has been 
ruined from vicious habits. And, my reader, when you go to 
take a glass of liquor, or to play a game of cards, or use to- 
bacco, stop and think of me ; think what a poor, broken- 
hearted blind man I am, and it was those bad habits that 
caused my blindness. I am not the only one, for there are 
thousands and hundreds of thousands in our country that 
are as badly afidicted as I am, and the sole cause is their bad 
habits I Reader, I know there is not one who may read this 
book that would like to be in as sad condition as I am in. 
And I know there is not one of 3'ou that would like to spend 
your days between the cold, damp prison walls, or spend 
your days in a filthy poor-house, or spend your last moments 
upon a gallows ; and if not, beware of bad habits, for when 
3'ou commence on them you do not know where they will 
lead you to. Little did I think when I first commenced 
drinking beer, wine, and playing a simple game of cards, 
that 1 ever would be a gambler, a drunkard, and then a 
blind man. And since I have been blind I have wept for hours 
and hours to think I ever fell a victim to these bad habits. 
Oh I if I could only be put back to the age of sixteen, I 
should know how to lead a happy life j but I cannot, it is too 
late for me. But, my young reader, 1 beg of you, for your 
own happiness through life, and for the happiness of those 
dear, affectionate parents who arc the best friends that ever 
a child can find in this world, and for the happiness of those 
sisters, brothers, and all your friends, shun bad habits. Oh 1 
I beg of you to impress my kind words upon your mind, and 
heed them before it is too late for you, as it is for me now 1 

C- T. N. 






NAMES. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




